Reflections from September 22, 2010

Today we begin the book of Titus, Paul's letter to the man with the same name. Titus was a bishop of the island of Crete. This location desperately needed leadership and Titus was there to establish the church and develop leaders for it. Paul spoke of the corruption of the people, even quoting from Epimenides who said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." Paul agreed with this assessment.

Paul goes on to warn about Cretans when he says in Titus 1:15-16, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work."

To the pure all things are pure...What goes in and what comes out. Those with purity of heart and mind, having been washed by the blood of Jesus, put into their mind pure and clean thoughts centered on Jesus and on what is Holy and righteous. Thus, what comes out of their mouth is a reflection of these thoughts. Their words are centered on Jesus. But those who are defiled, will not only expose themselves to unclean, impure, unrighteous thoughts, they will then turn around and profess these things. What's interesting is that many times people will think that they are doing "something good" and that will be good enough when "the good Lord calls them". But Paul warns about this by saying they are "disqualified for every good work" so it will be as if the work never happened. In fact, Jesus will tell them to get away, I never knew you.

Let our prayer be to be pure...pure in heart, pure in mind pure in thoughts, and pure in speech.

Blessings to all